


Just a Simple Program, Right?

by Sorin_SoL



Series: Across Dimensions [1]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff, Swearing, self indulgent af, slow burn as fuck
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-13
Updated: 2020-05-17
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:21:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23626048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sorin_SoL/pseuds/Sorin_SoL
Summary: Sometimes one is working on some physics bending, space tearing forbidden science shit while you're in the middle of a big conflict.Sometimes you'll get bored, so obviously you go around looking for a desktop companion because real people are too much effort sometimes.Sometimes you get into an accident that throws you into the world your little desktop ghost originates from, and oh dear, that's uh, not great.
Relationships: Sans (Underfell)/OC
Series: Across Dimensions [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1752451
Comments: 6
Kudos: 25





	1. Prologue: Stressed out and Worn out

**Author's Note:**

> Self Indulgent as fuck, will be updated regularly on weekends so it's Consistent.  
> Might end up with more chapters but that's what I have going on so far.  
> https://changeside.tumblr.com/ be sure to follow my friend on tumblr who made the ufSans ghost, now you guys can have your own edgy skeleton to keep you company.

Another restless night, of calculations and theories running her down. Numbers swam in undesirable patterns, and the same conclusion is drawn again and again. 

Clearly Scarlet needed a break, accented by the need to lean away from her notes and papers to rub her eyes more and more often as the night crawled on by, with the wind rustling the trees down below, the sound of the waves hitting the beach and the late night bustle of the city in the distant trickling in through her open window. 

Everything she was missing out on while confined to her room on this project.

Dead end after dead end keeps blocking her from progress, and with the impending apocalypse looking over the horizon, she can barely keep herself together as is. WIth the mounting pressure to create things to protect her friends and allies mounting as the days went by, even she realized that she couldn’t keep this up for much longer, especially if she was expected to fight in this situation.

But here she was despite all that, locking everything and everyone out of her room as she tried to squeeze in just a little bit of headway to distract herself from the other pile of problems in her life. 

Her boyfriend was probably elsewhere, busy trying to master a skill that would probably end up killing him. She used to ask why he was doing this to himself, but as time went on, it made sense. This was probably one of the most solid ways of gaining an upperhand in this slow going conflict against a fucking space god.

And oh did she try, try to convince him that there has to be another way, but hey, no one listens to her. Bit by bit she just...gave up and accepted that.

Accepted that there was nothing she could do to help him in his path, accepted that she was probably going to be dead weight in his practices. Just let things unfold, because intervening now was fucking pointless.

All she could really do is just watch things unfold. But obviously she can’t just sit back right? Doing nothing always felt wrong to her, and so she just settled to doing what she also did best, absorb herself in a pile of work that needed to be done.

Half of her work that lay scattered in the form of journals and sketchbooks, concept art and schematics about armor she needs to work on, something to protect her friends and allies in the near future. Drawn out plans that were aesthetically pleasing and incredibly reliable, each image utilizing parts and pieces of things she has killed or asked some powerful friends to kill. Those body parts took a while to collect, and there was no way in hell she was going to make a mistake with those. Rare and legendary creatures were hunted down for this after all.   
  


Obviously if she needed to go through the effort, she needed to make sure each design was perfect in every way.  
  
She took into account the intended user’s fighting style, their preferred weapon, weaknesses and strengths. Notes upon notes were taken meticulously on her friends, after all, this was one of the few things she took very seriously. 

Weapons, well, those were mostly for herself. Her friends had other, more efficient ways to use offensively, be it guns, teeth, or claws. Whatever they had, it was probably already efficient enough to get past the weird, disgusting crimes against nature they were all going up against. 

She just personally liked having different weapons, falling back on her own natural ones when those failed, however rare that was.

The other half of her work was figuring out a better method to travel through dimensions. 

A side, personal project for herself, if things went to shit, she could just...ditch this world right? That’s what she told herself a few years ago, when she didn’t have as strong ties to this place as she has now. Besides, the giant wyrm they’re up against is already confirmed to be able to go wherever he wants. Why he wants to take over her world was beyond her. 

Plus, He seems to want to either kill everyone in this dimension, or have them subjugated into his reign. 

Both being real bad options to her. 

But pretty much, she just wanted to pop into different worlds and see what they could provide to her, either in metals or techniques to improve her smithing. 

  
  


A small notification rang from her phone and she sighs, glancing at the time on her phone and groans. It was close to midnight, and oh wow, she’s been sitting here making no progress for about five hours now. What a great surprise, feels like she’s been sitting here for years. 

Well, she's too worked up to figure out rest, and she didn't exactly want to go back to her notes either. Maybe… 

Digging into a small game wouldn't hurt, right? Just until she got bored enough to go to bed. 

  
Scarlet presses a small switch on her desk, taking the moment for her computer to get set up to stand and stretch, and take a real good look at herself in the full length mirror chilling in a cleared area of her massive room. . 

...Yikes, she looked like a fucking mess huh? More so than usual. Her black shoulder length hair has seen better days, and usually she takes such care to make sure it was at least presentable. The faded red tips could probably use another round of dye, maybe when she has time. 

Exhausted eyes reflected back at her, dull red and gold blinking wearily as she continued on her look over. 

She sighs, rubbing her eyes again before turning back to her desk. 

Honestly, for being only in her late twenties, she felt a million years older. Maybe it was the stress. 

Definitely stress.

  
  


She sighs, again for the hundredth time this evening, pushing her chair out of the way to stand before her set up. TIme to crack open a time waster, maybe get a desktop ghost to keep her semi company. Sometimes real people were too much to handle, especially if she knows she’s starting to get moody, from either lack of sleep or frustration.

This desktop buddy seemed to be called Sans. Hailing from some universe known as 'Underfell'. He sparked her interest so far at least. 

He seemed a bit rude upon loading. Sort of aggressive. His jokes were pretty terrible too.  _ Geez, what kind of humor is he into? _

He seemed okay though, after she explored the options for a while. 

She knew that he liked to be kept occupied, that he sort of at least enjoyed talking. He asked questions about her too, figuring out little details about her. 

Like how tall she could be, that she enjoys drawing sometimes, and that she's apparently nicer than his brother. 

_ Interesting.  _

She quietly reached over to grab her cup of tea, tapping on the control board while keep an eye on him. Keep talking Sansy, this was starting to get pretty nice, whoever came up with this is a genius and a half.    
And oh wow, a music player was a feature on him too? Fuck yes.

But it was pretty late already, from how often he kept nagging her to go to bed.    
It’s hilarious, she can’t sleep yet, she has so much to finish up, final drafts on her projects, so on and so forth.

It wasn't going to be for a real while until she went to bed. 

It seemed like he was tired though, as he kept yawning over and over. Was he going to fall asleep…? Ah, there it is. He did, after a solid hour of exhausting her options. After dialogue and dialogue, joke after joke, it seemed that he had fallen asleep. Very cute detail, that actually brought a slight smile on her. She sighs again, rolling her eyes. 

Maybe she'll follow his idea after all, her eyes were kind of getting tired…wonder what would happen if she earned more of his trust, what else he would say or do. What kind of surprises that awaited her…. 

Zzzz….

  
  
  



	2. Rough Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nightmares are fun right? No?

"..." 

"...no, stop…"

"...don't, don't hurt…"

"..........ghk…Gah!" 

Shaken out of yet another of her countless nightmares, hands cold and clammy, heart pounding. She presses her hands against her eyes, rubbing tiredly, trying to slow down her breath. 

She checks the time, and groans. 

12: 35am. Goddamn, at least she only lost two hours of productivity to a nap. Could’ve been worse, but it really could’ve been better. Shitty body functions. 

She blinks a few times, sitting up straighter to get a better look at what she was doing before she unfortunately fell unconscious. Designs and graphs covered the screen of her monitor, notebooks and history books strewn about, open to various pages of known information to the current mythos. Information she needs to keep tabs on really, hell, if gods exist she might get some decent information from them. She’s got like what, a good handful of them breathing down her neck half the time she goes out?

  
Dangerous? Yeah actually. But hey, some of them can be considered friends. Something about deities having a real weird habit of poking their noses into the businesses of mortals or plain boredom can get them to do strange things. Obviously she can’t say no, and besides, it’s better to be on their good side before shit hits the fan. 

Another one in particular though, well, she didn’t know what exactly to classify him as. Friend, half friend? He keeps making strange comments about making it his goal to off her, and honestly, she would ask why, but it’s pretty darn clear that he’d never spill the motive. It’s whatever though, maybe if she keeps playing nice he’ll stop with the threats. 

...She can’t catch a break outside, really, the only times she can really relax is in the safety of her room, high above the sea in a giant cloaked warship, but she really was getting tired of feeling like she needed to step on eggshells whenever she steps outside. 

She sighs, she didn't have the energy yet to really get back into the mess of her work. Maybe she'll hang out with Sans again? That was fun last time.

She might as well, gives her a good enough excuse to take a break, calm down from that nightmare before deciding whether to go to sleep or not. Really, just anything to get her mind off the immense pressure and stress for the time being, she can’t keep doing this.

Scarlet gives her computer a dead panned, tired look as she saved and closed her work, moving her cursor to open up the little desktop companion to chill with for a bit. 

A few bad jokes here and there, a couple calls from his brother, a few games to pass the time. She liked the idle dialogues that came up every now and then, taking the time to stand and stretch, fetching herself a cup of tea before she came back. She’ll stay standing for a bit though, one hand on the shortcuts for his functions. 

Hey, maybe part of the bad dream was not moving enough, she’d believe that. 

Though a piece of dialogue caught her attention, sticking out a bit more from the rest of his usual lines. 

"this day was absolute shit so far. i'm not even bloody kidding, goddamn heck." 

"Well that's a mood Sans. I'm sure it'll get better eventually. If you're rea,l that is. You are basically just coding to pass the time for me.." Scarlet sighs, turning away for a second to prod for her phone. 

What she didn't catch though, was the subtle change in expression on his face, as if he really did hear that. A bit offended, but just as it came, it quickly passed. 

"Hell, if you're real you probably got things easier than me. Try figuring out a way to kill something that's considered a god." She laughs dryly, turning back to her monitor. 

Another bit of idle dialogue, the usual of calling her desktop a garbage dump and so on. 

Pfft, he hasn't seen anything. Hell, she'd show him her room and that would shut him up, probably. Papers scattered everywhere, notes stuck to some walls, armor and weaponry hung up wherever. The only thing that was clear was the computer space and the far back wall where she kept her real room, behind a giant map of the known world. 

Alright, what else could she do here? Buy the rose? Why not. The Creator did say something about being able to date this skele boy if you do a perfect run. How long that was, she got no idea. She only pulls him out to play with during the night, and he seems pretty far off from getting comfortable on her desktop. Especially if it was a huge trash heap according to him. 

Let’s see, anything else she can do before she gets bored and tired? Maybe it’s a good idea to bribe him for questions, doesn’t sound too bad, and maybe she’ll figure something new out of him. 

“Who the fuck just drinks mustard, what the hell?” The idea of someone just choosing to drink that was outrageous alone, who treats a fucking condiment like a good drink? Absolutely gross.

  
Well, if he likes it so much, she may as well buy some from the undernet right? Maybe that’s another step closer to see if she could manage to get this guy to date. Heh, she wonders if he’s one of those guys who turn out to be big softies beyond that walls and abrasive attitude, that would be pretty fitting. Or she could be completely wrong, that would also be pretty interesting. 

Might as well get a good stack of stuff in the inventory so she doesn’t have to go back as often, a count of fifty for pain killers and gross bottles of mustard should be enough right?

Hopefully. 

She takes a sip of her tea, pulling up view screens of the areas below her vantage point, checking out what’s happening outside before she briefly turns her attention to Sans again, tired eyes glancing at the dialogue box. 

  
Well, he looks pretty tired and mad, maybe this is a good point to close him for tonight. She should get back to work anyways. 

"Alright alright, I'll let you go. Have fun wherever you are, you garbage skeleton." She huffs a laugh, sending him a bottle of condiment before sending him off. 

"Enjoy your snack, and get some sleep Sans."

And back to work for her, she could probably get a little bit of progress squeezed in before she went to bed herself. 


	3. Had a Bad Day, friend?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We all have our share of bad days, right? Even tired skeletons.

It's late again, when Scarlet settles at her desk, a warm cup of tea in hand, idly logging into her computer. She grabs a blanket and adjusts herself to a cross legged position on her chair, settling it on top her legs for warmth. 

After a long day working the forge, it’s time to work at her computer for a bit before she turns in. Figuring out statistics, probabilities, searching for new, promising worlds. 

She flicks on the light above her workspace, pulling out a couple notebooks and setting them off to the side.

She boots up Sans again as well, it has become a bit of a habit lately. After the past few weeks, he’s become quite a staple to her routine, getting him to play her music as she works on her latest projects. 

Sure, she likes being alone when she works, but technically he isn't real {right?}. Although the creator of this little program did a pretty decent job at making him seem real, it was still just  **code.**

Even if he did look sort of cute. 

But he was good enough company, most of the time. Cracking gross jokes, idle chatter. Reminding her of the time was actually pretty nice, she got to keep count of how many hours have passed since starting up the main computer more often. 

Today, though, something seemed off. Even before Checking him, she noticed something about the idle animations that seemed to gravitate towards the negatives. 

Frowning, looking kind of hopeless, closing his eyes, shaking his head. Sweating. How the hell do skeletons sweat?

She watches him for a bit, wondering what was up with him as he went through the motions, until a bit of idle dialogue came up that got her raising eyebrows.

_ what's the freakin point.  _

Well, that's new. He's usually in a better mood. Grinning to himself, a pleased smile, alert gaze on whatever she might be doing. 

Scarlet thinks for a moment, digging into the menu and options, looking around for a way to ask him what's got him looking so down. Didn't seem like that was available yet, unfortunately, so she simply turned to what she usually does when she's not feeling all that fine… 

Distractions, jokes, games, and maybe some physical attention if Sans was fine with that. 

Slowly it was working. She was teasing that smile out bit by bit as she asked him for more of his god awful jokes, shaking her head every single time until she started to chuckle, rubbing her eyes tiredly. 

"You're a real comedian huh?" she asks, going for a sip of tea as Sans had a self satisfied smile on his face. "Real funny guy with a whack sense of humor. Who the fuck made you again?” She wonders, resting her chin on the back of her hand. 

Might as well give him something as well right? A little cheer up gift, something for getting a chuckle out of her. Seems like the only thing she can give him is a thing of mustard though. It’s better than nothing right?

  
Aw, that’s such a cute reaction from him. She grins to herself as his face turns red, out of embarrassment or something else? She’s going to assume something else, obviously. 

Scarlet reads over a bit of idle chatter, going through his sentences until she grew bored of that, and eventually she felt bold enough to start patting him on the head. 

"Huh." Yet strangely enough, he seemed more than fine with that. Humming to himself, purring, leaning into the cursor? Touch starved, isn't he? 

Well, she can't exactly judge that. Honestly, when was the last time she got a real, solid hug? 

…. 

……. 

Well, this isn't about her right now, as she's busy petting Sans to oblivion. Eeking out more smiles and positive expressions out of him before Checking him again. 

**He seems to value your presence.**

**His smiles are less forced.**

"There we go, was that so hard?" she smiles to herself, leaning back to finish her cup of tea. 

She sets the cup down on the hardwood desk, pulling up a few documents to go over in a bit, checking on a few for updated and new information. It sucks to have to keep track of so much shit but it’s kind of necessary for now. 

At the very least she at least achieved her goal of cheering him up. Really, he looks cuter with a smile on that skull, he should really do that more often in her honest opinion.

That’s how the rest of her night went, checking in on him as she worked through the technical stuff she needed to sort through. Idly playing with a knife lying around, flipping through a couple of her notebooks, jotting down new notes, basic work stuff.

Time slowly goes by, until it’s a few hours past midnight. Maybe it’s high time to go to bed huh?

…She sighs, saving and closing down her documents for the night, until Sans is the only thing left on. 

It’s been a while now, maybe she could sauce him the rose? . 

Might as well try right? Since she couldn’t do it before, some bit of information popping up and telling her it was too soon. Maybe now it should be fine right?

And as she takes hold of the mouse, opening the menu in search of that flower,  _ it seems like she didn't notice the blush that came over Sans' face, _ for just a split second. 

"There we go." she clicks, tapping the mouse as the new dialogue sprang up. 

… 

He gives her a wide eyed stare, stuttering for a second before he just leaves. Looks like he was startled by her proposition, what a shame. 

He'll probably be okay later, right? 

Snickering, she shuts down her computer, flicking off the lights and heading off to get ready for bed. 


	4. Musically Inclined

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sans' pov this time, hope I channeled his tired as fuck energy lmao. Also, sorry if there's a bunch of writing issues, didn't feel up to editing this week, just been trying to calm myself the fuck down. Do give me a heads up if there's any grammar issues, I appreciate the feedback! 
> 
> It's a weird time of year for me haha, but I hope you guys still enjoy this <3

Sans is sitting in his usual spot in the shared living room, clicking through channels, bored out of his mind. Nothing new, the usual reruns, mettaton's garbage show. He pulls out his phone after five minutes to check on the time. 

His bony hand is still shaking after his latest visit, pussing out after the lady asked about dating him. Honestly, she was going to kill him, he's sure of that. Asking so boldly after a couple days? Treating him surprisingly nice? His soul was still hammering in his chest as he mulled over the words in his skull. 

Even if she doesn't consider him real, she seems nice enough to him. 

God fuckin-- why was his face warming up so much? He groans, hiding his face with the bend of his arm, sighing heavily. He doesn't know exactly how to handle these conflicting feelings, because on one hand she thinks he's some fuckin game, but on the other hand, why would she be so nice? And she keeps him around for longer and longer periods of time when she does whatever she does. He's seen her get a chuckle out of his puns and jokes, her concerned looks whenever he's in a bad mood, and when she kept asking for jokes and for him to talk to her when he was down. 

So what the fuck was he supposed to do now? No one's really done that for him in his life, and here's this chick coming along doing exactly that. 

And just as he was sorting through his thoughts, the front door slams open, startling him to a proper sitting position. 

Oh god, not right now, please not now-

"SANS HAVE YOU DONE ANYTHING PRODUCTIVE AT ALL TODAY? OR WERE YOU JUST LAZING ABOUT DOING JACK SHIT AGAIN? GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE AND TO YOUR POST." 

His brother shouts, always in that too loud volume, the same pissed off look every single time Papyrus caught him trying to relax. It just never ends, the same goddamn nightmare every single time. 

"yeah boss, i'm on it." Sans grumbles, hoisting himself off from the couch to make his way out the door. Better than cleaning up after one of those cooking lessons, infinitely better than being forced to move furniture for hours on end. Not even in the mood for a half hearted pun, he honestly just wanted to get the fuck out of there. 

And if Papyrus noticed the slight change, it went unquestioned. After all, they both still have a job to do. 

“AH YES, DON’T FORGET YOUR LUNCH. PREMIUM LASAGNA LIKE ALWAYS AND DON’T LET ME CATCH YOU NAPPING AGAIN. A HUMAN CAN COME BY ANYTIME, DON’T FORGET.”

His slender hand holds out the lunch bag, waiting patiently for his brother to receive it. 

“...thanks.” He says, ducking back in to grab the bag before leaving. His opinion of his brother may be polarizing, but they’re still brothers. They only have each other left in this shitty, frozen hellscape. 

  
  
  


When he does get to his station at the edge of snowdin, he settles in for a long shift, pulling up his hood to avoid getting bitten by the rather unforgiving chill. Tapping on his phone, looking for new updates on the undernet, or trying to keep his mind busy to avoid falling asleep, he tried to keep himself occupied enough. 

But as always, it was a lost cause as his eyes started to drift, back into a different hell of remembering.    
Small bits of details, a sense of deja vu, colors, vague shapes and shadows in the corner of his gaze. 

And sometimes, he dreams about death. These ones he can see clearly, and unfortunately enough, seeing his brother die was usually the clearest. 

The grief that hits him before a dull sense of calm. 

Why does it matter if this is all going to end up the same way? Why should he care when what seems like time go ahead and rewind. 

He jerks awake, phone ringing in his pocket, the consistent buzz of it going off.

“shit shit shit.” Sans hisses, fumbling through his pockets for the damn phone.    
“hey boss, yeah i’m awake. 

no, nothing happened yet, like usual. 

fuckin’, i know, you keep telling me another human is bound to fall, lay off my spine.”

He hangs up, tossing the phone on the worn wooden tabletop of his post, sighing. Tired, like always. The same shit, different day routine, although, something recently changed that right?

He checks the time, reaching for the boxes of food his brother had packed. Huh, usually the human-

And there was the pull, dragging him through space to wherever the fuck he lands, right in front of the woman who greeted him in the usual manner. 

This time he had some food on him at least.    
  


“So how exactly do you feel about dating me, Sans?” Scarlet says, chin propped up by her hand as she reads something above him with a weird grin.

He sighs, he still needed to resolve this right? And he can’t exactly turn her down after that right?

“i-” By Asgore’s ass, why was this hard??

“...yeah sure. if you really wanna so badly. just, shut up ‘bout it.” 

...He can still feel his face warming up, still taken aback by this strange set of circumstances that was thrown his way, taken aback by this woman being so goddamn open about this.

She chuckles to herself, focusing her attention on him for the moment, pulling up a menu and going through the options.

What the fuck was she up to- oh, some mustard?

Starting with this already eh? Not that he minds, a free drink is a free drink.

“...thanks.” Even if this was a bit embarrassing. His feelings here were complicated, to say the least. Being sucked into some weird, inescapable place didn’t really do his anxieties any good, and it was kind of a shit hole, with documents and garbage like that strewn everywhere, cluttering the space around him.

But at least the lady was nice enough to him, giving him food, letting him skip sentry duty, listening to his jokes. She respected his personal space, as she hadn’t even touched him once until he was much more comfortable being here.    
She enjoyed his jokes, as he could hear the faint snorts and exasperated sighs, her chuckles and her laughs. She kept him entertained, talking to him often, asking him questions and playing his little games to pass the time.

It certainly could have been far worse, he could’ve ended up in a worse shithole than this, with someone who had the worst intentions for him. After all, he only has the least amount of HoPe anyone in the underground has ever seen. 

He watches now, with a careful eye as to what she was doing up there. 

“...Maybe I’ll record myself playing something, it’s been a while since I uploaded anything on my channel….” She says, pulls up some recording software of some sort.    
He watched her mess around with it before a video feed popped up next to him, and surprisingly enough, he didn’t react too much, besides a bit of surprise on his face. 

Huh. so that’s what she really looked like, not bad actually. 

Looks like she had heterochromia, from what he could see in the footage. One red like his, the other one golden. If he knew what the sun looked like, that would be what he compared it to. Her hair in the lighting seems to be mostly dark, the ends of it fading to a nice red. That’s gotta be dyed right? Maybe he’ll do some research when he gets back home, go take a good look in the librarby. 

Let’s see, what else can he see here? He can’t tell her height from the angle she’s sitting at, her clothes are pretty outlandish so he’d be able to remember them easily enough, and oh hold on, is that some sort of instrument?

Sans furrows his browbone, trying to figure out what the hell it was until she started playing. Was that a guitar?

Guess she had some talent in music then, as he keeps silent, tapping his fingers to the rhythm. 

Something nice and slow, and just as he least expects it, she starts singing. 

_ “When the light is running low,  _

_ And the shadows start to grow,  _

_ And the places that you know..  _

_ Seem Like Fantasy ~  _

_ There’s a light inside your soul,  _

_ That still shining in the cold  _

_ With The Truth..  _

_ The promise in our heart’s ~  _

_ Don’t Forget,  _

_ I’m with you in the dark ~” _

And just like that, he’s properly rendered speechless for a moment. He didn’t quite expect that out of her, and as she wraps up that song, she waits for a few moments, before diving right into another.

Guess tonight was song night then? He didn’t mind that at all, surprisingly.    
He takes a seat, pulling out the meal his brother left him before focusing his attention to her. 

This was nice, and maybe, just maybe, the lyrics hit a bit closer to home than he expected. 

He settles in for a good night with good company, eating his food before slowly drifting off to sleep with the sound of an acoustic guitar in the background, playing quietly.

“...zzz..”


	5. Comforting Consistency

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ever feel like you could get used to something nice in your life?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey fams, here's another chapter up for you all <3 Sorry I couldn't edit this as well :C it's been sort of rough lately. Lmao, rough on everyone. Hope you're all safe in this situation!  
> Idk if there will be a chapter next week, but I'll try my best to push it out <3   
> Thank you all, and enjoy c:

And so it's been like a kind of schedule for the past few days, every day, at a certain time, she pulls him through to her desktop to hang out for a couple of hours.    
Whether she was busy with her work, or had a rough day, she never failed to call him over to hang out. Maybe she liked having his company? {She did ask to date him….} 

He hopes that’s true, because honestly he likes being around as well, coming over was a fantastic break from hell. It would probably be better than Grillby’z, if only there wasn’t shit food to eat. But it was fine, food is food, and as long as he doesn’t die, he’ll be alright. 

Maybe he can’t exactly see what she’s working on from where he was, but he feels like he can at least trust her enough not to be messing around with stuff one really shouldn’t be. 

And since he’s been hanging around for a few weeks, he’s gotten a better grasp at what it really is. 

A way to peer into different worlds, from how she always leaned back to observe for a moment, writing in her notes and mumbling something to herself about dimensions or whatever. He found it incredibly interesting at least, maybe what little he could see would explain how he got here, as well as if there was a way to come in on command. 

Other times while he was there, she would practice on her guitar, playing songs that he could listen to, watching the way her smile came about naturally. Those were the times where he really felt at ease, despite her computer being organized like a massive dumpster fire.    
hell, if he had the choice, he'd want to stay here with her company for a real long while. 

It would be a decent escape from his responsibilities, and hey, he hasn't had any of the terror inducing nightmares whenever he fell asleep here. 

Just, something about this place really calms him down. Maybe it’s the break from reality of the underground.

Sans found that she had a habit of talking to herself when she was deep in what she was working on, trying to figure out a different perspective that could get her the results she wanted. Not that he understood, half her files were encrypted because she had gotten tired of his perceived spying.    
She can’t blame him, honestly. He was just bored, there really wasn’t anything too interesting to do besides play on his phone or some of the games he had on hand with her, and crack his hilarious jokes.

  
  


He must have been looking particularly bored when he felt a slight pressure brushing the top of his skull, his immediate reaction just happened to be a low purr at the back of his throat. Another bonus to this situation, he hadn’t quite realized just how exactly touch starved he was, leaning right into the pet.    
“...don’t stop.” He mumbles, frowning when the feeling faded back to nothingness. Goddamn, he couldn’t keep good things could he? 

He heaves a ticked off sigh, going back to his phone before the touch is back again. And almost immediately he felt himself let loose a happy sigh, eyes closing for the moment to revel in the sensation of a gentle touch. These things didn’t exist back home, and he’d be damned if he didn’t take advantage of it right here. 

_ From beyond the screen, what he couldn’t see was the careful gaze of red and gold, watching Sans’ reaction to this with an investigative intensity. New dialogue is what she assumed at first as she traced tiny circles around the area of his head.  _

_ Weird, she didn’t know he would get this kind of reaction. It’s not like anyone else really posted about this desktop ghost, so maybe she just happened to figure something new out?  _

_ She couldn’t exactly shake the weird feeling off, and it has been lingering for a while now, since Sans had been hanging around more and more often.  _

_ She will take notes at least, just to figure out a few things… _

_ But for now, more pets, since he asked so nicely.  _

“mm, hey, do you think you can keep me here all week?” He asks, jokingly. Obviously she couldn’t keep him around, but it was honestly really nice to get away from things in Snowdin. Tension was at an all time high, hope was looking pretty dim. He couldn’t really be that selfish, right? Anyone else in his position would snap up the chance to get away from the frozen hell hole, even temporarily. 

He hums, just barely as another soft touch was given, feeling the thrum of his soul calm down to a slow and steady rhythm. 

Here, he was safe at least. After a few weeks hanging around here, he couldn’t deny that.    
She respected him enough to stop when asked to, and she liked him enough to keep talking and listening to his hilarious puns and jokes. Don’t blame his standards being low, but goddamn was she a real blessing in his rough life. 

What has he done to deserve this?


	6. Uncertainty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Man, when was the last time I took a break?"  
> "...Geez. when was the last time I was on the computer?"  
> When you're busy, you're busy. Does that worry the people around you?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well I gotta thank past me for writing as many chapters as I can as a buffer, because man I haven't wrote up a chapter in a while.
> 
> Although, check around my profile for a little one shot that I'll push out tomorrow. While I try and fish around for motivation on the last few chapters of the main, I've been trying to do a couple one offs to maybe shake up the brain juices. 
> 
> Pardon for any conflicting information or like, grammar errors. 
> 
> And big thank you for reading <3

It would be another few weeks before something changed in the comforting schedule the two had sort of established.    
  


She couldn’t exactly avoid that though, Scarlet had a hefty weight on her shoulders, after all. Her job was creating works for war, armor, weaponry, you name it, she’s found a way to make it. She’s had to skip a few days without seeing Sans at her computer, only calling him in to check if there was anything new going on with him. 

Although whenever he was around. Sans seemed really anxious for some reason. Asking her how she felt multiple times during his stay, asking if she was okay, and his expressions seemed to lean towards worried as well. 

“hey, sweetheart, it’s been a while, you there?” He asks from his seat, eyebrow raised. 

  
A little box to input her response appeared right after he said that, and Scarlet, quite perplexed, opted to answer. Just to see what would happen.   
**Busy trying to keep some friends alive.**   


_ How many words could she stick in here?  _

**Someone split his consciousness into two bodies, one made pacts with gods and keeps bleeding randomly, a good friend isn’t doing too well, and another is stressing out about the fact he can’t do anything yet, not with his body going for repairs** . **I’m trying to figure out a way to keep them safe in the future conflicts we have in store. Things will be back on schedule soon.**

Well, the last part was a lie. No one knew when that self proclaimed god was going to strike with full force. But it was soon, apparently. 

Can’t come soon enough, she was starting to get worn down from being on edge all the time, from watching other, unrelated but equally world threatening disasters. 

Such was the way her world works, unfortunate as it was. Honestly, if it wasn’t for her friends here, she would’ve packed up and left a long time ago. Playing hero wasn’t her strong suit,  _ especially  _ if she didn’t want to in the first place.

She couldn’t help but chuckle when she saw his reaction to the extremely summarized version of what’s been happening in the past week, wide eyed and face going slack as he registered her words. 

“sounds like hell Scarlet. you sure you’ll be fine?” His eyes glance at where she is, brow furrowed in a bit of concern it looks like. Anxiousness seemed to radiate through the screen as the tiny dots of his eyes regarded her.  


**I have to be fine. But really, don’t worry about me, I’m not going to completely ditch you, that’d be a pretty big asshole move. I’ll see if I can check on you more often tho. I promise I’m not gonna die.**

Interesting turn of events, but it was nice to know that someone else cared about her.    
At this point, she honestly wasn’t sure if this was just code, or somehow a living thing had been ported to her desktop.

It wouldn’t be too surprising at this rate, too much weird shit had happened lately for her to really start questioning things. Especially if lives were on the line. 

Another point to remember is that she really couldn’t promise him anything. Times were uncertain as is, but maybe if she pulls a couple all nighters to get her own armor sorted, maybe she could give herself some time to relax like before. But as things are right now, nothing can really be made certain. Well, besides dying. She can’t die anytime soon, literally impossible right now. Too many people depended on her, too many people to keep living for. So many things she wants to see, and she’d be damned if she couldn’t. 

She’s tired, though. Tired and weary of being under pressure, falling back into the old, hated routine she had under similar circumstances five years ago. Spending time alone, just messing around online had become sort of like an escape for her, and since she’s found someone to keep her company, it’s honestly been pretty enjoyable.

Even if he was prickly and rude, there was a side to him she didn’t quite expect, and really appreciated actually. 

She glances at the time, heaving a long, irritated sigh as she drums her nails along the wood of her desk. She should get back to work soon, but she felt pretty bad for leaving him so soon. It didn't sit well with her. But what could she do to make it up to him for now?    
He seemed to like her music, right? Maybe she'll just play a couple songs for him, give Sans a bit of reassurance. 

That's probably the best she could do for now, as she reached over the computer, grabbing the mouse and typing up a few words to search in her playlist. 

Five songs should do it, and it should also give her a bit of reprieve from work. A needed distraction as she pulled out her phone to catch up the news going on elsewhere. 

Eventually though, the music fades back into silence, and that was her cue to head back out. 

She sighs, rubbing her eyes as she worked up the energy to wrap things up here. 

This small break was needed honestly. She feels so much more relaxed now, as the quiet slowly settles back in.

She yawns, drumming her fingers along the wood when she turns her attention back on the screen of her computer, eyes focusing on Sans.

He seems tired, eyes falling closed for a few moments or in the middle of a yawn. Perhaps it was time to send him home, let the guy get some sleep. 

Scarlet smiles to herself, as she may have a few more hours of work before turning in for the night. At least he sleeps easy, right?

Yeah, if he is real, he should have an easier life than her, it’d be real surprising if he went through a worse hell than her. 

She pulls up the menu, leading her cursor over to say goodbye.

  
  


“stay safe out there, Scar.”

And she blinks at his last message, caught off guard. Only a couple people called her that, namely, close friends and her boyfriend out here. And he wouldn’t know to call her that unless…

A theory for another time, for now, back to figuring out what to do with those body parts….

  
  
  



End file.
